


One Last Ride

by Chash



Series: Disney Channel You [3]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, Alternate Universe - Disney, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 08:05:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5409308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Disney Channel wants Bellamy and Clarke back for one last movie. Bellamy's more surprised that Clarke wants that too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Last Ride

**Author's Note:**

> Holiday fill for [kalasgravity](kalasgravity.tumblr.com) and [brightcopperpenny](brightcopperpenny.tumblr.com)!

“Can you sing?” Clarke asks.

“Sing?” Bellamy asks, frowning over the pile of scripts he’s reviewing. “Sing what?”

“Anything.”

“Kind of. One of the plays I did in high school was a musical.”

“Wait, it was? How did I not know this?” demands Clarke, grinning and shifting closer. “What musical? Who were you? How dorky was your costume? I need every detail, thanks.”

Bellamy closes his eyes, wincing. “Uh,  _Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat_. I was the pharaoh.”

Clarke cackles, which was exactly what he was expecting. “Is there a video? Please tell me there’s a video. Don’t bother lying, Octavia will definitely tell me.”

“This is why I didn’t tell you.”

“You were pretending to be Elvis!”

“You once released a song called ‘Teach Me How to Live Again’ and had to duet with a CGI dolphin.”

“Hey, that was a real dolphin with CGI expressions,” she says, cheerful. It’s hard to embarrass Clarke because her entire life has been absurd. “And it wasn’t singing with me, it was just providing moral support. But that’s actually kind of why I was asking.”

“I cannot duet with a computer-enhanced dolphin,” he says firmly.

“You could, don’t sell yourself short. But seriously, Disney Channel wants us to do another movie for them.”

Bellamy stares at her. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. I guess they’ve been getting bad press because they haven’t had me back to be in anything since I came out, and they’re trying to prove that they’re fine with it, so they’re offering us a movie. They want to know if it can be a musical.”

“Can I say no even though I can sing?” he asks, eyeing her warily. “I don’t want to be in a Disney Channel original musical.”

“You could be the next Zac Efron!”

He pauses. “Okay, honestly, I can’t tell if you want to do this or you’re just fucking with me. Give me a clue so I can figure out if I should be seriously thinking about it.”

She leans her head against his shoulder, thinking it over. “I don’t care about Disney’s PR,” she says. “But I think it would probably be nice if we did something with them again, so it’s not, like–” She sighs. “Not everything I do is some carefully calculated political gambit, but I did kind of want to help kids struggling with their sexualities when I came out, and it’d be cool if I didn’t give the impression Disney had blacklisted me. Since they apparently haven’t.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

“Also,” she says, grinning. “Come on. It would be  _hilarious_. Can you even imagine how much of a trainwreck a Disney Channel original musical starring you and me would be? That’s, like, a step beyond regular DCOM. It’ll be so much fun.”

“Why are you convinced  _fun_  and  _nightmare_  are synonymous?” he grumbles.

“Come on, we’ll learn shitty songs and shitty dances, we’ll pretend we’ve never seen each other naked because god forbid any Disney Channel leads are familiar with sex, and when we get home we can get drunk and laugh at the script.”

“So, you want to do this,” he says.

“I kind of really do, yeah,” she admits. “I never got to be in a shitty Disney musical! I just released shitty Disney singles from my shitty Disney non-musicals.”

“Do we have a plot summary yet?”

“Untitled Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake Project,” she says. “All details pending our agreement.”

“Wow. I get to be part of the untitled project name?”

“You’re in the big leagues now, Bell.”

He sighs. “I’m not singing with any CGI animals, okay? I want that in my contract.”

“What about CGI people or inanimate objects?”

“Please don’t give them ideas.” He kisses her hair. “I’m in if you are. But if it sucks, I’m blaming you forever.”

“Deal,” she says. “Now, where are these videos of you pretending to be Elvis?”

*

He honestly would not have been upset if he never worked for the Disney Channel ever again. Obviously, he’s grateful to them for hiring him, introducing him to his girlfriend, and helping him claw his way out of miserable poverty with his sister, but that doesn’t mean he wants to keep working for them. He’s just–he cannot be That Disney Channel Dude. He refuses to let that be his thing.

But one last ride? He can handle one last ride.

The project keeps shifting, based on executive meddling and the desire to make the film into some kind of  _event_. He and Clarke have also been very, very clear that this is a one-time thing, and if it does become a franchise, they’re not going to be involved. It’s obvious the execs are disappointed, but not disappointed enough to can the project.

By the time they get the script, it’s basically reverse-Enchanted, and honestly a lot better than he expected. They’re courting the  _Princess Proper_  fans with Clarke as a classic Disney princess, trying to avoid an arranged marriage and longing for adventure, and Bellamy as an average dude from the real world who ends up in this ridiculous fantasy land, learning about seeing the magic in the every day and shit. It’s still hokey and slated to have the same director as the High-School-Musical franchise, but Bellamy can’t deny he’s a little excited about the whole thing. He likes acting with Clarke.

“It’s not bad, right?” she asks, with undisguised excitement.

“No, it’s surprisingly painless. I think they really want you to come back to them.”

“No way in hell. But it’ll be a fun project to go out on.”

“Yeah. But–”

“But what?”

“I can’t help but notice there are all sorts of opportunities for me to have to sing with CGI animals,” he says, keeping his voice grave. “I am in a magical other world with a lot of talking animals.”

“And we didn’t get that restriction in your contact.”

She sounds pleased enough that he can’t help throwing her a distrustful look. “You didn’t tell them we wanted singing animals, did you?”

“I told them if they wanted to do singing animals, we’d understand.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he says. “You are the worst girlfriend I have ever had.”

“Yeah, but just by default. I’m also the best girlfriend you’ve ever had. Also, you really need to start watching your language again. You’re a role model, Bellamy.”

“Go to Disney Channel,” he tells her, and she pecks him on the cheek.

“Not until we start filming.”

*

Bellamy went back to his old high school once after he dropped out to be on Disney, to get his GED, and it was fucking weird. Going back to the studio feels a little like that, this surreal experience of stepping back into a life he thought he’d outgrown and left behind, something that isn’t really his anymore.

“I feel like a creep just being here,” he tells Clarke. “Aren’t we too old for tweens to relate to us?”

“You’re only twenty-one, dumbass,” she says.

“Language.”

“You’re only twenty-one, Disney Channel.”

“If they ever find out we do that, they’re gonna fire us.”

“They’re not gonna fire us, we’re only employed for like a month and a half. It would be more work for them to get new stars at this point.” She squeezes his fingers. “This is going to be fun.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

His first meeting of the day is with his singing coach, a cute, quiet girl named Maya who tells him she’s a big fan.

“You don’t have to say that,” he assures her, and she smiles.

“No, I really am. I worked with Clarke on a movie a few years ago, so I keep up with her. You guys always look like you’re having a really good time.”

“We try to.” He frowns. “Were you, like, five when you worked with her? Aren’t there child-labor laws?”

She rolls her eyes. “I was trying to be an actress, I wasn’t a singing coach yet. It turns out I like being behind the scenes better.” She claps her hands together. “Okay, so, I heard you can sing?”

“Sure? I’ve never done it professionally or anything, but I can carry a tune.”

“Okay. We have a sort of–Disney Channel style, I guess.”

“Of course you do.”

“It’s a brand, you remember this. So I’m going to coach you on, um, presentation, I guess. You’re going to release a single. There will be a music video.”

“I’m never forgiving Clarke for this.”

“Less talking, more singing,” says Maya. “Project!”

The song he’s apparently releasing as a single is pretty inoffensive. It’s a love song about how if this is the last fun thing he gets to do before college, he won’t mind because Clarke’s character is so great. If they try to put an enamored squirrel into it, he’s going to set fire to the studio, but it’s in his range and when he sings it he doesn’t actively want to die, so he’s counting it as an overall win.

Maya looks less pleased. “Okay, so, um, this is going to sound weird, but–you need to be less attractive.”

“Uh,” he says. “Like, wardrobe? Plastic surgery? What are we talking about here?”

“Have you watched Clarke’s videos?”

“Yeah, we play drinking games with them.”

“So, Clarke is, you know. She’s gorgeous, obviously, but she’s–” Maya huffs. “Basically, you have to be less, um. Pretend you don’t know how babies are made.”

Bellamy opens and closes his mouth, pauses, stares at her. She gives him a pleasant smile. “Clarke did say we’d have to pretend we’ve never seen each other naked,” he says. “I wasn’t trying to be, uh. Sexy?”

“I know you weren’t,” says Maya. “It’s just–I know it’s been a couple years, but try to remember how it is on Disney. You’re non-threatening. Act like you don’t even have a penis.”

“How much do you drink at night to forget that this is your job?” he asks.

“Less than you’d think,” she says, bright. “From the top, but asexual this time.”

“Thanks,” he says. “Good notes.”

*

It is weird, getting back into the Disney Channel groove. They’re notably  _old_  for a DCOM, so they’re playing eighteen again and doing a (slightly) more adult storyline. Bellamy’s character, Josh, is about to go to college and not ready to leave his childhood behind, so he makes a wish that nothing has to change and ends up teleported to Clarke’s magical kingdom, where she’s having relationship problems.

It’s actually pretty relatable, even with the singing animals. That’s probably why he’s having trouble with the mindset.

“A real person would do a lot of these things in this situation. I’m not used to that.”

“You acted like a real person on  _Princess Proper_ ,” Clarke points out.

“Yeah, but that was in spite of the script. All my energy went into rationalizing whatever shit Kane wanted me to do that week.”

“So this is too realistic and you don’t know how to deal?” Clarke asks, sounding amused.

“Not in a Disney-Channel way.” He pauses. “I meant that as an actual descriptor, not replacement profanity. Maya keeps telling me to be less sexually aware.”

Clarke giggles and nuzzles his neck. “What I’m hearing is that everyone can tell you’re not a virgin anymore.”

“How come they can’t tell with you?” he grumbles. “You’ve had exactly as much sex as I have.”

“I’m better at acting than you are,” she says, prim.

“Yeah, I already knew that.”

“You are having fun, though, right?”

And he is, of course he is. It’s great to be working with her again, and their chemistry is natural and easy, even if he is repeatedly told to tone it down. It’s nice to be the romantic lead right from the start, too, the one who is saving Clarke’s character from her arranged marriage to some douchey prince who’s too old for her.

“It’s awesome,” he says, and means it. “We should do all our projects together.”

“I keep trying to get it in my contracts, but no luck yet. Give it like ten years, we can get cast in some  _Law and Order_  spin-off that will never die.”

“As long as we have a plan,” he agrees.

*

“So, how do you act with an animal sidekick?” he asks her the next week, looking at the dog who’s going to be following him around for most of the film. Apparently CGI is too expensive, so they’re going with as many practical effects as they can. Which is great; Bellamy gets to hang out with an actual dog. And she’s a pretty great dog. Maybe when they’re done he can take her home. Octavia really wants a menagerie, and she’s mildly annoyed she’s spending a month of her summer vacation in LA. Another dog would totally help.

“It’s the best,” says Clarke, scratching the dog behind the ears. “Everyone cares about the sidekick more than you, so the pressure is really off. You can phone it in and no one will even notice.”

“This is your secret, huh?” he asks. “Your early success was all due to acting with animals?”

“Plus I’m cute.”

“You are cute. But not as cute as the dog.”

“Thanks, love you too.” The dog puts her head in Clarke’s lap and Clarke grins and scratches her. Clarke totally wants to keep the dog too. “What’s her name?”

“Daffodil.”

“That’s adorable.”

“Don’t be jealous your animal sidekick is a bunny.”

“A  _saucy_  bunny,” she says. “My coworkers are never going to let me live this down. I’m on a serious show. We get Emmy nominations.”

“This was your idea,” he says. “You have no one to blame but yourself.”

The actor playing the guy Clarke is supposed to marry, this total asshole named Cage–and, seriously, why are so many Disney Channel employees assholes?–comes in and gives them a haughty look. “We aren’t interrupting, are we? I believe you’re filming on the other stage today, Clarke.”

“Wells’ makeup got smudged, we’re back in fifteen,” says Clarke, smooth. “But if you guys are going to start, I’ll get out of your hair.” She smiles at Bellamy and squeezes his hand. “Good luck dueting with a dog.”

“You’re the worst thing that’s ever happened to me!” he calls after her, and she just smirks, not buying it at all. He gives Cage an overly bright smile. “So, me and the dog are singing about how we won’t let you marry Clarke, right? This is definitely where you wanted to be with your career. Must be exciting.”

“You’re the one doing it,” Cage shoots back.

“Yeah, and it’s awesome,” he says. “Come on, I’m telling you and a dog how much I love my girlfriend. I’m excited. Let’s go.”

Cage squints at him like he’s looking for some sign of sarcasm in Bellamy’s tone, but there’s none to find. Bellamy honestly kind of loves this stupid movie. It’s going to be ridiculous and campy and people will make fun of him about it for years, but it’s going to be  _fun_ , too. It  _is_  fun. And, as it turns out, it’s easier to be asexual and nonthreatening when you’re acting opposite a dog. Maybe Disney is onto something with animal sidekicks.

“You ready, Daffodil?” he asks her. Right on cue, she barks. Always a professional. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

*

“You’re actually a really good singer, you know?” Clarke asks. They did their duet today, and it had been weirdly–romantic. He’s honestly glad Maya spent so long reminding him that he needs to be non-sexual, because he did kind of want to drag Clarke off to make out the whole time they were singing. He might be coming down with something. Disney Princess Pox.

“So I hear, yeah,” says Bellamy.

“No, but–you should do it more.”

“Yeah? You think I’ve got a Broadway future?” he asks. “I’m not white, maybe I can be a Hamilton understudy. Use my ethnicness to my advantage for once. I can’t rap, but I know all of Burr’s songs.”

Clarke laughs. “Sure, that’s an option. I just–I like it. Listening to you.”

He feels himself starting to grin. “Holy shit, you’re totally into me singing. This is what you get for being on the Disney Channel in your formative years. You get turned on by all the wrong things.”

“Shut up, you’re hot. Your voice is hot. And it’s–I don’t know.” She makes a face. “You might have a point about my formative years,” she admits, grudging.

“It’s cool,” he says, tugging her into his lap. “I can fix it.”

“What exactly are we fixing?” she asks.

“How hot you find my singing. I stopped by my high school, they had DVDs of that musical I was in. This will definitely destroy all sexual attraction forever.”

Clarke perks up, grinning, shifting around to look at him. “Wait, really? Octavia said she couldn’t get one.”

“Yeah, I told her there weren’t any. She was like nine, she still trusted me. But I figure I’ve seen all your embarrassing shit, you deserve to see mine.”

Clarke gets booze while he sets up the DVD, but she stops him before he can actually get it playing. “Wait, I want you to set the scene first,” she says, settling into his arms. “I need backstory. When was this?”

“February, sophomore year of high school. Just a few months before I met you.”

“So you’re sixteen?”

“Yup.”

“And was this your first play?”

“No. I was always kind of curious about doing drama shit, but I was worried about leaving O alone. But then she stared doing this dance program after school, so I figured I could do something too. So I was in, uh– _Twelfth Night_? Yeah. In the fall.”

“Who were you in  _Twelfth Night_?”

“Sebastian.”

“That’s not nearly as funny.”

“Sorry my acting career isn’t as ridiculous as yours.”

“So you had fun and figured you’d go out for the musical?”

“Pretty much. It was cool pretending I had a social life. And O was really proud of me. She’s always been my biggest fan.”

“Aww,” Clarke says, smiling. “Okay, I think I’ve got it visualized. You’re sixteen, you have no friends, and you’re going to pretend to be Elvis. I can picture it.”

“Great. Do we have to watch the whole thing, or can we just skip to my scenes?”

“I need the full experience, obviously. I totally would have gone to your school plays if I’d known you existed.”

He kisses her temple. “I would have been so nervous I totally choked.” He lets out a breath. “Okay, ready?”

“Are you actually nervous  _now_?”

“Yeah, I think you’re going to break up with me,” he says. She looks dubious, and he sighs. “It’s just weird. High school. I’ve lost touch with all these people, except for the ones who want to be actors and are hoping I’ve got an in for them. It doesn’t even feel like my life.”

She squeezes his hand, but her voice is teasing when she says, “I rocked your entire world.”

He laughs. “You really did, though.”

“You did too,” she says, and steals the remote from him. “Okay, let’s do this.”

And, of course, it’s actually really fun. There’s nothing like drunkenly heckling a bunch of kids who aren’t present and can’t be hurt by it. He’s not in the first act, so they’ve got a decent buzz by the time he shows up, and Clarke is fucking  _delighted_.

“Your  _hair_! Oh my god, you’re so cute, I totally would have had a crush on you.”

He snorts. “This is the age I was  _when we met_ ,” he says. “Seriously. You basically knew me when I was doing this.”

“And I had a crush on you when we met,” she points out easily. “But you’re actually really cool. Shockingly cool, given what you were working with and who you are as a person.”

“Thanks. It’s almost like I’m a good actor or something.”

“Almost. Also, this is doing nothing to make me less attracted to you when you sing. You’re still really hot when you sing.”

“You have the weirdest kinks. I’d offer to help you out, but getting you off while we watch my high-school play is too weird for me.”

She pauses, and then deliberately takes his hand and slides it up under her shirt to her breast. “Really?”

He holds out for about half a second. “Nope, I’m fine with it,” he says, picking her up off his lap so he can press her into the couch.

They miss the end of the show, but it’s totally worth it.

*

Bellamy has a role on a CW teen drama, because the CW apparently really is where you go when you’ve moved on from the Disney Channel. It’s honestly just as ridiculous as  _Princess Proper_  was, but in different ways. He was a recurring guest star last season, but he’s upgraded to main cast for the second season, and it’s a pretty good job. He doesn’t like any of his coworkers as much as he likes Clarke, but that’s probably for the best. If he fell in love with someone at every show he worked on, his life would get really awkward really quickly.

So, yeah, as TV gigs go, it’s pretty good, and he’s happy. He has a nice house with his serious girlfriend and his sister, and he’s somewhat successful in his chosen field. His life at twenty-one looks a lot better than he ever expected it to.

Then, the promos for the movie come out, and everyone on set starts making fun of him. Which, okay, fair enough. He is in a Disney Channel original movie, and he is singing with a dog. He deserves all the mockery he gets, and he takes it with good cheer.

He draws the line, though, at going to their premiere party.

“Come on!” says Kevin. “It’s going to be awesome. We’ll have a drinking game and everything.”

“Sorry,” he says, grinning. “Sounds awesome, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve already got a date with my girlfriend.”

“Bring her, she’s awesome. The more the merrier.”

“Private party.”

Kevin squints at him. “Jesus, please tell me you aren’t going to have sex while you watch the Disney Channel. I get that that’s where you came from, but–that’s fucked up.”

“I cannot guarantee we won’t be overcome with lust,” he says, deadpan. “I don’t want to subject you guys to that.” Kevin is still looking wary, and he finally breaks and grins. “Seriously, it’s just kind of something we want to do on our own. We always watch our big premieres with just the two of us and my sister.”

“Jesus, you’re the most married twenty year old I’ve ever met. That’s adorable, but–damn.”

“I’m twenty-one, thanks,” he says. “But the rest of the statement stands, yeah.”

Clarke is still on her serious, critically acclaimed show, so she, of course, gets even more shit than he does, which doesn’t even make  _sense_. Compared to other things Clarke has had to do for the Disney Channel in the past, this movie is actually really respectable.

On the other hand, given they’ve both been hiding their phones around the house and blasting each other’s embarrassing singles at each other at weird moments, he can’t actually blame anyone else for making fun of her about the whole thing. They are starring in a Disney Channel original musical, and everything is fair game.

It premieres on a Friday, and they order pizza and get set up on the couch with the dogs. The cats know better than to get involved in this.

“You think Daffodil is excited?” Octavia asks, scratching the dog behind the ears. “It’s your big premiere, girl.”

Daffodil looks like she could not care less, and Bellamy grins. “She’s a diva. She knows I get more screen time than she does and she’s sulking.”

“Wait, the main character of this movie isn’t the dog?” asks Octavia. “Never mind. I don’t even want to watch it anymore.”

“Bellamy has a duet with her,” Clarke points out. “If you don’t want to see your brother singing a duet with a dog, I don’t know what to say to you.”

“Only one?”

“It’s not a duet,” Bellamy grumbles. “She just sort of periodically howls. The dog doesn’t talk. Clarke has to actually sing  _with a bunny_.”

“I thought you guys said this movie was kind of okay,” Octavia says, sounding dubious.

“It is!” Clarke says. “ _Kind of okay_  is really a low bar to clear. We make decisions real humans might actually make, we have sort of adult conflicts, the animals are cute without being totally overpowering. We’re not going to win any awards, but–” She glances at him. “I’m kind of proud of it, honestly.”

Bellamy reaches over and squeezes her hand, and then tugs her into his side, for good measure. “There are worse notes to go out on,” he agrees.

“That’s a line from your fucking single!” Octavia says. “You’re not allowed to quote your own single, Bell. That’s, like–so douchey.”

“I was being romantic,” he says. “Shut up and watch the movie and let me make out with my girlfriend in peace.”

“You’re the worst, Bell.”

“True,” he says, leans in close to Clarke’s ear and sings, soft, “Worse notes to go out on,” making her shiver.

“You really are the worst, I Disney-Channel hate you,” she says, but the way she says it, it sounds a lot like  _yes_ , so he wraps his arms around her, kisses her hair, and settles in to watch.


End file.
